


ask me if I'm single

by aiviloti



Series: Jazz Club Chronicles [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: 5 + 1, Bokuaka - Freeform, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Massive fluff, SakuAtsu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:14:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23982163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aiviloti/pseuds/aiviloti
Summary: 5 times Akaashi was asked if he was single and the 1 time he asked someone if they were singleDon’t get Akaashi wrong, he thinks of himself as attractive, or attractive enough, anyway. But there really is something about peoplewho look like greek gods who have descended upon the streets of Tokyo and decided to grace this little unknown but tasteful jazz barwho look far more attractive than you staring at you like you’re the most impressive thing they have ever seen that is particularly unnerving.In a good way.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji & Bokuto Koutarou & Sakusa Kiyoomi & Miya Atsumu, Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Miya Atsumu/Sakusa Kiyoomi
Series: Jazz Club Chronicles [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1865962
Comments: 25
Kudos: 589





	ask me if I'm single

**Author's Note:**

> So, this happened because of two things.
> 
> Thing 1, me @ me: Hey ahahaah y'know that meme where a drunk person ask their partners out while they're drunk and cries when they tell them they aren't single? Yeah that, but listen, _Bokuaka_
> 
> Thing 2, me @ me: Okay so, Bokuto is drunk and akaashi (or someone else maybe a friend)asked him and bokuto ferociously goes no I'm not single and rants about akaashi and akaashi just cries?
> 
> And so chaos ensued. I hope you enjoy!

(i)

Akaashi has been through enough to tell when people were interested in him, and whatever the guy with the grey and white spiky hair at the bar was doing, that was it. Being interested in him.

It’s surreal.

There are many things ongoing at this small, secluded jazz bar on the streets of not so small nor secluded Tokyo on a typical Friday night, and all of them are undoubtedly interesting enough that Akaashi can choose to focus on any one of them and still be overly impressed and invested all the same.

First is, of course, the performers on stage. 

Akaashi has been coming to this jazz bar for a year now, and he swears every time he comes, the ginger playing the trumpet hits new highs. Many people play the trumpet. Many people radiate a sort of endearing vibe that tempts other people, stranger or not, to smother them with fondness and affection. Before, Akaashi had believed these two events were unrelated traits, mutually exclusive, but Hinata Shouyou appeared, and here he is, making a point to appear at the door of this jazz bar at least twice a week.

Of course, it wouldn’t be right to give all the credit to Hinata, as Kageyama the accompanist, was just as equally dazzling in many ways. It was so easy to be swallowed up in Hinata’s shadow, in the lucid and lyrical tunes of the trumpet, but Kageyama pulled his weight so well that it was easily more of a duet, than a solo and accompaniment.

Second. A couple who are arguing behind him. 

Does Akaashi really know Sakusa and Miya apart from their names? No, not really. He only notices them because they look like images you would not have imagined side by side, with Miya looking like someone who walked out of a fashion show, and Sakusa looking like he just walked out of a surgery(as a surgeon, not a patient). They’re kind of friends with Akaashi, if that is what you call people who give each other polite smiles just because they share the same pastime. Which is also how he knows they don’t usually argue, or at least, not enough to draw Akaashi’s attention over Hinata anyway, but things are different tonight. 

Akaashi makes a point to not poke his nose into other people’s business, because it is other people’s business, but there is something truly fascinating about this particular duo and their particular brand of dynamic. Had it not been rude to sidle up to his kind-of-friends-but-not and ask what their business was, or had it not been because Akaashi is far more introverted than he lets on, he might have. He would have.

And anyway, they have company. 

This leads him to Third, the guy next to him is someone Akaashi has never seen before, and he was sure he would if he had because of how much he stood out just by being in the same vicinity as Akaashi. Of all things interesting going on in this bar, Akaashi does not consider himself one of them, so when he takes a peek to look if the couple are still arguing (they are), he is surprised to see a pair of gleaming golden eyes staring into his.

Don’t get Akaashi wrong, he thinks of himself as attractive, or attractive enough, anyway. But there really is something about people ~~who look like greek gods who have descended upon the streets of Tokyo and decided to grace this little unknown but tasteful jazz bar~~ who look far more attractive than you staring at you like you’re the most impressive thing they have ever seen that is particularly unnerving.

In a good way.

Akaashi feels the blood rush up to his ears. Not wanting to or not physically able to, he doesn’t know, but Akaashi doesn’t look away, neither does spiky-haired guy. Everything is unfolding in public, displayed for the world to see, and yet it feels like a stolen moment that only belongs to them. Spiky-haired guy winks at Akaashi with a smile, and Akaashi’s heart does a series of acrobatics.

Whatever it is that Hinata and Kageyma are playing, Akaashi doesn’t hear, because he is too busy staring at a stranger, and his multitasking skills still have a long way to go. The crowd breaks into polite applause, and it is only then does Akaashi realise the song has ended.

Sadly, as it is within the limits of human minds, Akaashi can only choose to focus on one of the many interestings going on in this room. He tears his gaze away from spiky-haired guy and chooses to avert his attention to Hinata, because of how it is the only socially acceptable thing to do in this situation (despite how his heart was leaning so heavily on one of the other options it was almost lying on it).

The show ends like all things eventually do, and with the gentle waves of trumpet music gone, Akaashi is once again hyper aware of everything else, like how the couple is no longer arguing. Like how a gaze is still boring a hole into his back.

“Thank you!” Hinata says, looking rather pleased with himself, as the compliments and applause continue to shower, and Akaashi watches as his two kind-of-friends-but-not go up to Hinata, spiky-haired guy tagging behind. They talk and _Ah, they’re friends_ , Akaashi thinks. _That explains it._ Akaashi absentmindedly sips on his drink as he watches this unlikely trio, or quartet if you count Hinata. Spiky-haired guy makes a point of stealing looks at him every now and then, and while yes, Akaashi is extremely flattered, he can’t help but wonder if he was going to make a damn move already.

He is near enough to hear snippets of their conversation, not to mention how Hinata is generally very Loud, and he learns that the spiky-haired guy’s name is Bokuto. That is very much easier to address than spiky-haired guy. Akaashi is pleased. 

Then Bokuto leaves his friends just like that, sliding directly into the seat across Akaashi’s. 

“You were looking at me,” he says, his eyes round like an owl’s. 

Akaashi chokes on his drink. “Only because you were looking at me first.”

“Uh huh.”

Akaashi stares, waiting for him to go on, but he doesn’t.

“...is there something I can help you with?”

“Are you single?” Bokuto asks, his tone carrying a whiff of childish innocence and curiosity, and the entire bizarreness of this encounter shakes Akaashi.

“You don’t know my name and you’re asking me if I’m single?”

“Oh,” and Bokuto laughs, the loud hearty kind that you would definitely expect from him. “I know your name, my friends told me!” He makes a vague gesture at Hinata and co. “So are you?” He asks again, and hearing it for the second time in the span of a minute does not in any way reduce the bizarreness of it all.

“I don’t even know your name and you’re asking if I’m single?” Akaashi says, and that is a lie, because he does know his name, and the more he thinks about it, the hotter his face feels. Those are many ‘and’s in a sentence, but too many things are happening at once, and Akaashi no longer knows how to keep track.

“I’m Bokuto,” he grins, “Bokuto Koutarou! Nice to meet you, Akaashi Keiji!” He holds out a hand to Akaashi, one that Akaashi doesn’t hesitate to take.

“You should have started with that,” he mutters. “Yes, I’m single, what about it?”

Bokuto scrapes his megawatt smile and pulls out his gigawatt one. “Good to know, I’m single too! Can I ask you out on a date?”

Akaashi recalls his moment of dumbassery in which he urged Bokuto to, in his own words, make a damn move already, but this is not the move he had in mind. He helplessly stares at Bokuto, at this creature, too feral and too damn good looking for his own good. Hinata and co are looking at them, Akaashi can tell from how they aren’t bothered to hide their expressions (Hinata: joy, Miya: proud, Sakusa: shame), but he can’t find it in him to care right now. There are more pressing matters at hand.

“What,” he says, and he curses himself for conjuring the lamest reply ever after being asked out on a date by ~~an actual metaphorical greek god~~ the most good looking person he now knows.

“I’m asking you on a date! Because you like someone I would like to be friends with!”

“Do you ask everyone you want to befriend on a date?”

“No,” Bokuto says earnestly. “I only ask people who I’m interested in being more than friends on dates, but Sakusa tells me not to scare and scar you further than I inevitably will!” Bokuto continues to smile, before realising his mistake. His demeanour flips 180 degrees, and suddenly he’s slumping in despair. “Oh noooooo,” he groans. “Now I’ve gone and been too forward, and lost my one chance at everything good in this universe!” 

Did he just call Akaashi everything good in this universe? Did Bokuto want Akaashi dead? At this point Akaashi thinks Bokuto might just as well set him on fire, it’d be a much quicker death. He blushes red, and in the not too far of distance, he can hear a face palm and a massive sigh.

“I-I’ll do it,” Akaashi says quickly before he loses his guts, though it sounds far more like an owl screech than human speech. “I’ll g-go on a date with you, Bokuto-san.”

There comes Bokuto’s gigawatt smile again. “Really?” he says, eyes shining.

Akaashi nods. “Really.”

* * *

(ii)

“Are you single?” Bokuto asks at the end of their first date, one that Akaashi feels like is going to be the first of many.

He laughs, watching the sun streak Bokuto’s hair gold, along with everything else about him. Golden, gorgeous. “I’ve spent all day here with you, haven’t I? Would I do this if I wasn’t really single?” He says.

“Just making sure,” Bokuto says, stuttering a bit. 

_Hallelujah_ , Akaashi thinks, _I’m the guy who makes Bokuto Koutarou who asked someone else if they were single after knowing each other for five minutes stutter, what a feat_. 

“Because like,” Bokuto says, “I wanted to ask if you wanted to be not single.”

Akaashi’s heart performs a hundred cartwheels. 

“Uh,” he says, and he curses himself for conjuring the lamest reply ever after being asked to be in a relationship, he thinks. “I can’t just go around and suddenly not be single anymore, I’ll need a partner,” he trails off lamely, and prays to all gods he knows that Bokuto won’t find him lame.

“Oh,” Bokuto breaks down, startling him. “Awww man! I said that in a horrible way, didn’t I?” He wails. “I was trying to ask you if you wanna be my boyfriend but now I’ve gone and ruined my only shot at happiness in life.”

Akaashi wants to cry and laugh and serenade Bokuto. Maybe all at once. Did Bokuto just call Akaashi his only shot in life? What?

“Yes,” Akaashi clutches Bokuto. “Yes, yes, yes, I’ll be your boyfriend.” 

He’s probably grinning like a whole idiot right now, which is the furthest thing away from what he wants to be in front of Bokuto, but oh, who cares. “So no, I guess I’m not single anymore.”

“Really?” Bokuto grins, his irises fiery under the sun.

Akaashi nods. “Really.”

* * *

(iii)

The thing is with being a regular, there is some unspoken bond between yourself and other regulars because **(a)** you all have same tastes in whatever it was that you were a regular at and **(b)** there are many bars in Tokyo because Tokyo was Tokyo, and there are many places people can be at be at any given time, but they meet time and again at this bar, so maybe it is fate, something like that.

All it takes is being a regular, and Akaashi finds himself at a different table one day, joined by Sakusa, Miya(who insists he calls him Atsumu. “I’ll be reminded of my dad, or Samu,” he pouts, and really, who can withstand Atsumu’s pouts), and his now boyfriend.

Boyfriend, feels like such a foreign term on his tongue, but he takes a look at Bokuto, and Akaashi simply finds himself filled with a mushy form of warmth that transcends words, making every term feel foreign.

“I knew ya’d be good for each other,” Atsumu grins at them, but the happiness is short lived as he receives a friendly punch from Bokuto, whose “friendly” punches were anything but friendly. “What was that for,” he complains.

“You _were_ the one who said it was going to look as painful as watching a little lamb being devoured by a wolf,” Sakusa points out.

“Rich comin’ from ya, Omi-omi,” Atsumu says, his eyes gleaming. “Ya fucking said ya felt sorry for ‘Kaashi, and that Bokkun didn’t stand a damn chance.”

“Is that what you both think of me?” Bokuto asks, a hurt expression on his face, but it vanishes when Akaashi squeezes his hand.

“Well, they are wrong, aren’t they? I’m here now.” 

Atsumu snorts. “Get a room,” he says.

“I could say the same for you two.”

Sakusa doesn’t bat an eyelid, but Akaashi laughs, watching Atsumu squirm.

Eventually, he gets up to grab a drink, and he encounters a girl, who looks like it took all of her energy to work up the courage to talk to Akaashi.

“Excuse me, I’m sorry to bother you,” she mumbles, “but I’m wondering if you’re single.”

Akaashi gives her a polite smile, as he thinks of golden eyes that twinkle. “I’m afraid not, sorry,” he says.

“All good?” Bokuto asks when he comes back, because he looks a little bit more shaken than usual in a way only Bokuto would have noticed.

“Yeah,” Akaashi assures him.

“Really?”

Akaashi smiles. “Really.”

* * *

(iv)

“Are you single?” Bokuto asks, replicating the childlike innocence he radiated the first night they met. Akaashi stares at him, and Atsumu guffaws. 

*

“I wasn’t that drunk last night!” Bokuto argues.

“You were flirting with Akaashi!” Atsumu says, snorting as the events of the past night trails into his head. “Not drunk my ass.”

In terms of technicalities, there are six people in Akaashi’s now friend group, like actual _friends_ friends, and like _actually-very-quite-much-friends_ friends. But one day, Atsumu decided hey, since Hinata the trumpeter and Kageyama the accompanist who acted more like a pianist than an accompanist were going to spend their free time dating and call it practising slash handling their jazz bar duties, then the rest of them could simply go have fun without them, and it would be justified.

One thing led to another, so now they have oden at 3pm every third Sunday of the month, an odd time for oden with an odd bunch of people, but hey, Akaashi wasn’t complaining. So here they are, three sober people making fun of another sober person, who wasn’t as sober the night before.

“So? He’s my boyfriend!” Bokuto complains. “I don’t know why I’m being made fun of.”

“Ya asked if he was single,” Atsumu says, smirking, “After flirting with him for an hour, which is way more build up than when ya did it for the first time.”

“And cried when he said he wasn’t,” Sakusa adds helpfully.

“Oh,” Bokuto says, his face a cross of sheepish and smug.

Akaashi wants to pull him in for a kiss, but PDA is inappropriate because Akaashi is Akaashi, so he settles for lacing his fingers with Bokuto’s. “Don’t worry,” he says. “Drunk or not, I promise you are very sweet.”

In the midst of laughing at Bokuto and shuddering at his friends who were being far too disgusting for his comfort, Atsumu doesn’t pay attention when he reaches for the closer pot next to him. Before his chopsticks reach the soup, there’s a sharp jab at his stomach and he winces.

“Ow, the fuck,” he hisses angrily, only to be greeted by Sakusa, who’s murder intent was Atsumu’s tenfold. 

“Whose oden were you trying to get your disgusting chopsticks in just now?” Sakusa asks, and Akaashi winces too, with the feeling that he is going to be firsthand witness to a murder.

 _Oh well_ , he thinks, squeezing Bokuto’s hand, _at least he wouldn’t be the only witness_. Although it is admittedly somewhat troublesome to eat oden with one hand, Akaashi can’t find it in himself to let go.

*

“You really think I’m sweet, Akaashi?” Bokuto asks out of nowhere, one day.

Akaashi nods ferociously. “Really.”

* * *

(v)

“Are you single?”

Akaashi frowns at the question on the screen on his computer. “Look at this,” he says, shoving the laptop over so Bokuto can see. “It only gives me two options, single, or married.”

“Then what are you going to pick? You aren’t really single though,” Bokuto squints. 

“Yes, but I’m not married either, and marriage carries more permanence and weight to it than being single does,” he muses. “I think I’ll pick the single option.”

He clicks on the answer and Bokuto asks, “say, ‘Kaashi, would you like to, y’know, not be single?”

“What do you mean,” Akaashi laughs. “You know I’m not really single, don’t you? That’s just a dumb online quiz, don’t worry about it.”

“I don’t mean that,” Bokuto says, and Akaashi takes a serious look at him, realising this is the first time he’s seen him look this nervous. “I mean,” he takes a deep breath, “Would you like to marry me?”

For the third time since he first met Bokuto Koutarou, Akaashi’s brain is thrown into a frenzy as he tries to comprehend what is going on with him, with Bokuto, with things in this universe that sound too good to be true.

“What,” he sputters, because there are no rings, no flowers, only a shitty online quiz in this home while not much, but fully theirs, an laptop between them who has more bad days than good one, an unexpected proposal, and the love of his life.

“M’sorry,” Bokuto shrinks almost immediately. “You don’t have to say ye-”

“Yes, Bokuto Koutarou, yes, yes, and yes,” Akaashi says, looking at Bokuto, who looks as surprised as he feels. There are many things he doesn’t know, many things he isn’t sure of, but he does know that if it’s Bokuto, it’s always yes. “Did you seriously think I’d say no?”

“Really?” Bokuto’s eyes are wide. “You’re fine with all of this, fine with me?”

Akaashi presses their lips together. “Really.”

*

Much later, he retracts that thought. If it’s “Are you single?”, it’s always going to be a no from now on, no matter who asks, or what terribly and limited options shitty quizzes online give.

* * *

(I)

“Are you single?” Akaashi teases, at this small, secluded jazz bar on the streets of not so small nor secluded Tokyo on a typical Friday night. 

There are many things ongoing at this small, secluded jazz bar on the streets of not so small nor secluded Tokyo on a typical Friday night, and all of them are undoubtedly interesting enough that Akaashi can choose to focus on any one of them and still be overly impressed and invested all the same.

First is, of course, the performers on stage. 

Akaashi has been coming to this jazz bar for many, many years now, and he swears every time he comes, Hinata and Kageyama get more ridiculously good at what they do, and it’s no wonder this bar is getting more popular.

Second. A couple who are arguing behind him. 

They still don’t quarrel often, but whenever they do it feels like world war number ‘however many times it is that Atsumu and Kiyoomi has quarreled thus far’. Fascinating as it is, Akaashi still makes a point to not poke his nose into other people’s business, because it is other people’s business. All he can guarantee is a shoulder to cry on if they need one. Not that they ever do anyway, considering how they usually end up in each other's arms.

Talk about hypocrites who ask their friends to get a room.

Third, a certain spiky-haired guy who still overestimates how much he can drink without starting to tell everyone about his deepest and darkest thoughts about how he thinks that it’s really fascinating how Akaashi’s hair and eyebrows are just a shade darker than his eyelashes, and how he thinks it’s adorable.

It wouldn’t hurt to focus on Bokuto tonight, he thinks. Kageyama and Hinata can have other days.

 _Are you single_ , he’s been asked so many times in his life, but he doesn’t think he’s ever asked someone if _they_ are single, and it can’t hurt to start now with Bokuto, who he knows for a fact isn’t single, as proven by the silver bands on his fingers.

“Are you single?” he prods again, because he doesn’t think Bokuto heard the first time, but apparently he did.

“No,” Bokuto snaps, amusing Akaashi. “I’m not single!” Bokuto shoves his hand with the ring on it in Akaashi’s face, “And I don’t have the intention of ever being single for the rest of my life!” He declares. 

“Yeah, but I think you’re downright gorgeous, sure you don’t wanna give me a chance?”

“If you’re trying to hit on me, please go find someone else, because I’m in love with the most wonderful existence in the entire universe. I don’t know and I don’t care what you have in store, because you’ll _never_ be as good as my Akaashi, so don’t you even try!” Bokuto says crossly, but his eyes are bleary and half closed from the alcohol.

Did he just call Akaashi the most wonderful existence in the entire universe? Did Bokuto want Akaashi’s heart to go feral, here and now in a jazz bar? At this point Akaashi thinks of ways to stay alive as his heart bounces around at the speed of light, because he cannot imagine death and heaven or whatever else that existed to feel better than this.

“I love you,” Akaashi breathes, in a way that he hopes isn’t distressful to his PDA disapproving friends, though at this point he’s not really sure he can restrain himself.

“I love you too, Akaashi,” Bokuto smiles, seeming to have finally registered who it had been talking to him all this while.

“Really?” Akaashi asks, although he already knows the answer to that.

Bokuto nods. “Really.”

**Author's Note:**

> So this was wild and feral and apparently also my last day of ~~freedom~~ quarantine, so I hope you enjoyed watching me post more fics in 1 month and a half than I have in my entire AO3 journey! 
> 
> There are many things intentionally and unintentionally added, so if you spy anything that catches your eye and you suspect it may mean something, let me know! For all you know it didn't occur to me in the first place, and now that you have mentioned it I can appreciate the way you perceive things! (Not that I don't already think you minds works in wondrous ways, I'm rambling, aren't I?) 
> 
> If you enjoyed this, leave a kudo, a comment, anything! Find me on [Twitter](https://Twitter.co/aiviloti) or [Tumblr](https://aiviloti.tumblr.com) if you wanna scream about this, or things in general! Your support goes a long way, but more than anything I just hope I made your trip worthwhile, or something like that, who knows!


End file.
